"How many of these meek sneaks do we face?" Kumiko and Seek ask as they scan the area up the hill. She is unable to see anything, but between her extra senses from Seek, she can tell they're being watched.
'Looks like we have an audience...' Seek murmurs in her head as she feels the air pressure change. Her ears popping as she shakes her head and the rain starts to fall. She feels Peri pat her on the shoulder before she takes off again. Shiori laughs nervously as she stays back to back with Kumiko.
"I think they're all up the hill so you don't have to cover my back so closely, but you are welcome to hide behind us." She says as she brandishes her new dagger and starts to stalk up the hill. She can see Peri hopping from tree to tree in her more openly inhuman form, "You okay?"
Shiori is rather silent, but soon Kumiko hears a pop as she releases the tension on her jaw, "Well... This isn't how I was planning to spend our first night out of town... In the rain, no campfire..." She laughs a bit lyrically, but pulls her hood down, "You're really intimidating with those eyes..."
"I cannot control my eyes, if they may you uncomfortable, then perhaps you should avert your gaze." Kumiko smirks as she gives her a toothy grin, "What I do keeps us safe, and I know my heart is clear. So I'm going ahead." She says as she gives Shiori a two-finger salute, and charges forwards. She feels her blood start to feel warm as she feels herself sync with Seek like in the city.
'You better not lose control... I don't appreciate seeing people cry.' Seek warns as she feels her skin start to tingle as Kumiko narrows her eyes.
"It's not like I do either you know... What are you going to punish me if I misbehave?" She asks as she throws off her hood so she can have her full senses. She dashes to the left as she makes her way towards the first thing she felt in the rain like a pulsing heartbeat. She can feel it bounce off the rain as she starts to realize what it's like to be Peri.
She feels like she's running on water as she approaches her target. He's not very intimidating looking as she holds out the dagger, and it is enveloped in vines. She slashes at the man and he finds himself bound in a flowering plant, 'Is this adequate?'
"Well, I'm not going to jail them." She scoffs as she decides that leaving them to whatever fate the forest has for them is fine, "They'll break out or they won't, but..." She reaches down for his scabbard as he struggles. His mouth is wrapped in vines too, but she can tell he's pissed and struggling to scream out as she picks up his simple broadsword though it vanishes into light.
'If you're going to slow us down every time to pick up a stolen blade I'll just handle that from now on...' She hears him sigh in her head as she gets the gist.
'Fine if you want me to keep moving then you just need to pick up what we need off the ones we beat.' She narrows her eyes as she taps her forehead insistently as if she's berating him, 'If I have to do it myself then it'll just break the flow, right?'
She doesn't know it but her eye color has changed to a bright green, like emeralds reflecting in the dark. In her head, she just hears a soft hum as if Seek was pondering her words. It's not as though she needs his encouragement to deal with slavers or bandits if she isn't forced to draw blood.
'What is the importance of avoiding drawing blood if the person you fight seeks to draw your own?' Seek asks as they run and she feels her vision's hue change slightly to a light blue as she sees a flash and starts to feel a rumble, 'What is the point of following your heart to such a degree where you hurt none, but sever yourself from reality?'
"Can we have this conversation later!?" She says rather angrily as she feels the rain turn to steam around her. She dives into a woman this time, but unlike the man before she was ready. She has a fiendish grin on her face as she manages to push Kumiko back against a rock with a flick of her wrist.
"Ah... I see. You're the one we were tracking... I guess you thought you could flee into this forest?" She asks as she runs her finger along her blade, it is coated in a red edge as it ignites in a white hue, "Sorry to say dolly, but you've run into the marionette."
"What the hell does that even mean?" She sneers as she hears footsteps all around.
She laughs as she dives at Kumiko with her rapier with its burning coating it doesn't have the usual disadvantage of being easier to deflect as her blade moves towards her heart with each strike. Kumiko can't help but peddle back as she is forced to block with the dagger. However soon she feels someone's presence behind her as she holds up her hand towards them, managing to weave between their attacks as she grabs the one who moved to her back by the neck.
Happily confirming it isn't Peri or Shiori she clenches tightly and throws them at the strange woman. All she does is slash all around them as they fall limply on the ground and continue charging for Kumiko, "Look, you know what I'm after, so just give it to me... Alright?"
Her eyes flicker red as she reveals fangs as her fighting gets faster and faster, "What the hell do you want?! Isn't running around in a pack of cutthroats a bit beneath you if you're so damn strong?" The silver-haired fox barks out at the strange woman. Clearly an outsider of some fashion as she continues to try and strike at her heart without fail. No matter how Kumiko twists and turns she only aims for one space.
'She's persistent...' Seek murmurs as she feels his presence burn in her mind more and more as the fight goes on.
'Is she after you?' Kumiko tries her best to concentrate on the fight but it is a question that burns in her chest.
'Me? No. Not at all. She sees what I see.'
"What the hell are you after because you can't get it with that damn sword if it's not my gold!" She yells as her sword of vines and roses repeatedly bursts into flames and is forced to regrow before she throws it at her causing it to explode into ashes and burning flower petals as the sword she grabbed earlier appears in her hand.
Then as she reaches out with her other hand she brings the war hammer of the man who fell to the ground with her other as she swings both at the woman as she feels that strange sense that she's sleepwalking again. The burning flower petals, and the refracted light, and the way that they are clashing is distorted by the rain increases this effect as she feels that heat from when she fought Zeke surrounds her.
"You're really persistent you know that?" The woman says coyly as the heat coming from her blade, and the wisps of fire that come off Kumiko consumes her own blade, "Didn't anyone tell you that fighting fire with fire is a fool's game?"
"Shut up. Seriously, I hate people who do nothing but bicker during combat!" She yells as she dives forwards her hammer shattering against the sword as her eyes go wide for a moment. However, as the shards of scalding metal are about to fly for her she feels that white mist as Seek appears in front of her. However he's not in his wolf form, but instead the form of the young boy. He has the dagger I threw in his hands as he appears above the woman and stabs the blade into her forehead, but rather than blood what is almost like a spiderweb lattice of red energy shoots up and clashes with the lightning in the sky.
"Seek...?" Kumiko asks as she feels her self flop on the ground like a fish out of water.
"Every benefit has a cost Master... Your body went past where it should, I hope Shiori and Peri can handle the rest... I hate fighting." He says mournfully as he kneels by Kumiko's side and creates a parasol out of flower petals and waits for everything to blow over. All the while Kumiko lays there half-asleep listening to the falling rain before she drifts off, "I have a cost to pay as well. Though you'll repay me I hope."
"Uh..." Kumiko says as her eyes blink rapidly and again she finds herself in that void, but it takes her no time to find that place again.
-.-.-.-
I open the door as I step in, "Hey! Seek! Come on I can't sleep and fall into dreamland!" I look around for him to see him in the kitchen with a ridiculous apron. He seems a little bit taller almost in his teens.
"If we fall into danger I'll tell you... Now can you please do me a favor?" He asks as he looks at Kumiko with his icy blue eyes.
"... What?" She sighs and flops over onto the bedding where they slept last.
"Can you tell me how to cook?"
"What do you mean? You know all that I know I think... Isn't cooking rather simple?" She asks as she sighs and sits up feeling a bit feverish. Her eyes burning heavily as she feels like she's dissolving.
Seek pauses for a moment as he stares at the empty pan, "Creating is hard for me. I observe and I create what I see, but I don't know what constitutes a good thing versus a bad thing since I do not eat... I have no context for what is good food." He says softly as he stares at the pot, "What is your favorite dish? What makes you like it?"
"... This is rather weird... But if it's what I get in return for the help you gave me..." She sighs as she taps her chin, "It's never about the food for me, I just have things I don't like. Raw onions, bitter foods, I like anything sour, salty, savory, or sweet, but not all at once."
"... You are very unhelpful.."
"What?! Okay... Fine, I like cheese? Cheddar is one of my favorites. In the city, we once got in a lot of trouble for selling pan-fried cheddar sandwiches..." She sighs as she tries to think of something to appease those cold eyes, "What are those eyes supposed to mean?"
"... I'm learning about the human heart is all." He says as he looks away his eyes turning pink.
"... Well if it's crunchy, has cheese, or involves fried potatoes... I'll probably eat it." I say as she sees Seek's wolf-like tail start to wag, and he taps his spoon on the empty pan as he makes a simple grilled cheese sandwich from nothing, "... How about some tomato soup?"
Thanks to the nature of the space the task is done rather quickly, and despite it only being in her head she can smell it all. The aroma of the cheddar as a bit of it hits the pan.. The salty savory scent of the tomato soup... It is a lot for her to experience, but soon she sees Seek hang his head in defeat.
"... What's wrong? It smells nice..."
"It's time to wake up." He says as he looks at her with his deep blue eyes and frowns before Kumiko feels herself jolt awake.
o.o.o.o
"Kumiko!" She hears someone yell as she looks up to see Peri and Shiori under the flower petal umbrella, "Why did you run ahead you idiot?!"
"Hey be more gentle with her Shiori..." Peri says as she is clutching Kumiko's hands tightly.
"Is my new master awake?" She hears a third voice speak up as Kumiko suddenly feels a creeping suspicion.
"... New master?"
"Yes, this is my sister, Sachiko," Seek says plainly and looks to Kumiko expectantly for something. He is in his wolf form around everyone now staring at her with his purple eyes.
"Excuse me?" Kumiko asks as she stares down the strange wolf, and then turns her head to the black cat next to him, "... Oh.. Hello?"
"Yeah... I didn't realize my brother found you first..." She says rather embarrassed as she stares up at Kumiko with her mismatched eyes, one green, one blue, "I thought I was saving you from a human god, but I guess you've already been found!"
Peri shakes her head and shrugs, "She's not a shifter. That form is as natural as your own."
"I fought her as a human though. She used a burning rapier! I know that's your voice!" Kumiko calls out as Seek steps in front of the cat.
"She misunderstood, and fought you with a lot of her energy you need to calm down, Master..." He says with a soft whine, "She was here hunting the bandits as well. She and I are members of this circle in the woods. I couldn't remember because she and I lost each other."
"Oh... So do you know what you are now?" Peri asks rather excitedly as she looks to Seek.
"I am Seek. I Seek." He says as he tilts his head at the strange shapeshifter, "Why are you obsessed with my identity?"
"Well... Gotta know where you've been to know where you're going..."
"I am from this forest. I come out when the moon is high, and I go to sleep when the sun is high, unless I have a place I can reside." He says a strange phrase as he steps away from the cat, and she speaks instead with one eye open.
"I sleep when it snows, when it's cold, and hide when it rains." She closes the other then opens her other the green eye, "I am always seeking shelter. Where there is a warmth to be found and purpose to follow." She then opens both eyes and hops up onto Kumiko's shoulder, "I guide those who search for something greater than their minds can make."
"I seek experiences that have yet to be made in this world before." Seek states plainly as he moves to Kumiko's side and they all sit under the umbrella for several moments as Kumiko felt her self lost in their words.
They were rather simple, but they left her feeling a bit lost as she wasn't sure if she was even breathing as they spoke, "... Well, you're being serenaded by a cat and dog. I guess you're a princess." Shiori laughs as the entire moment is now lost and they hide under the parasol waiting for the rain to end.